365 Project: Day 54

A cliff is a scary place to be. Get too close, even to just take a quick peek over the edge and the ground beneath you could crumble away, you could lose your balance, you could fall. Lately I've felt like I am on the verge of something bigger than myself. Some greater purpose. I don't know what it is, but I feel it so strongly.

I am constantly pushing myself toward personal growth and self discovery. What is my purpose? What am I truly capable of? My desire to know what is beyond my own boundaries consumes me.  Again and again I reach the very limits of my comfort zone and I slowly inch closer and closer to the brink. I get close, but I hesitate to take that final step into the unknown. My instinct is to hold back, clinging tightly to security.

John Burroughs said, "Leap, and the net will appear." I've learned this lesson time and time again. I've been lucky that every chance I've taken, though I was hesitant, once I gathered the courage to make that leap, I have found nothing but support. Somehow, there has always been a net to catch me.

So here I stand. Teetering on the verge of what comes next. Like a baby bird leaving the nest for the first time, I have to find the courage to take the plunge. I have to trust that I won't fall, because somewhere inside I know I can fly.

365 Project: Day 53

As the saying goes, "When one door closes, another one opens." I don't like this saying. I understand that its meant to be encouraging, but it always sucks when a door closes in your face. Even if another opportunity eventually comes along, who is happy about losing their job, their security, a relationship, a chance at something better, etc? No one likes to be disappointed. I tend to dwell on the closed door for a while.

But then they also say "Opportunity knocks." So, wait, I'm confused. Which side of the door am I on again? Am I waiting for doors to open or am I waiting for opportunity to knock on my door?

Either way, all I know is there are opportunities all around us. You just have to either find them or create your own. I'm not going to waste any more of my time waiting around for a door to open or for the gentle rapping of opportunity coming to find me. I don't have the patience for that. Life is way too short. Instead, I'm going to do it my own way and break down as many doors as it takes to find the life I want.

365 Project: Day 52

Do you ever feel like you just want to get in the car and drive off into the sunset? Music blaring, windows down, winding whipping through your hair...I get this itch all the time. I'm a flight risk for sure. In the past 8 years I have moved 9 times, lived in 8 different cities, in 3 different states, on both coasts, and lived in 11 different apartments/houses.

When I find a place I like, instead of vacationing for a week or two, I tend to just move there for a little while.  I love all the places I've lived and I feel like I'm a more well rounded person for having moved around so much at a young age.  By living this way I've been able to really experience the different places I've lived, I've met some great people and I've learned more hard lessons than I ever thought possible.

The only place I've lived more than once is Albuquerque. The first time around I only lived here 3 months. I showed up with my camera, a suitcase and my laptop. I never even unpacked my bag. I lived out of that suitcase for the entire 3 months.

Every time I move I purge things. I don't like to own a lot of things that I don't need. Belongings are just a burden to me. They just make it harder to pick up and go when the mood strikes. I make sure that I don't own more than will fit in my car. I love my car. I've had it almost 10 years and it has moved with me several times. The only place it didn't take me was to Boston. I loved taking the train and I didn't need it there.

When I say goodbye to a place and all the friends I made there, I also say goodbye to desks, lamps, couches, bookshelves, etc. It always amazes me that I can pack my entire life into a Toyota. But thats how I like it. I don't own anything that I don't need or that doesn't have some significant meaning to me. When I move, all my furniture is usually sold on Craigslist and everything I don't need is either thrown away, recycled, or donated.

Now that I'm back in Albuquerque, I plan to stay for a little while. I'm happy here. I have a ton of old friends here and a lot of new ones who I adore. Plus, my family is only 3 hours away. I haven't lived within driving distance of my family in at least 4 years. There are tons of places I still want to live and even though I still have that impulse to find somewhere new, its nice to be in Albuquerque for now. This time I even unpacked.

Gift Certificates Now Available

Have a hunch that someone you know would love a print from Sara Norris Photography? That's great! But which print do you choose? A Gift Certificate to my shop is the perfect solution.

Phew! Crisis averted.

Gift Certificates from my shop can be sent to the lucky recipient by mail or, if you prefer, a PDF version can be emailed straight to their Inbox.

Personally, I think its so much more exciting to open your mailbox and find something special. Plus, shipping is FREE! But if you prefer for it to be emailed, I'll be happy to fulfill your request.

Visit the Gift Certificate listing in my shop for more details!

365 Project: Day 51

Didn't the holidays seem so much more exciting when you were a kid? Now Christmas just seems like another day in the year. I find myself asking for gifts that I actually need, as opposed to some frivolous thing that I'd like to have. Where's the fun in that?

When I was really little, my mom took me to see Santa at the mall. When he asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I told him I wanted an ice cream cone. Wasn't I cute? Christmas morning I woke up to find that along with my other presents, Santa had brought me an ice cream cone complete with vanilla Bluebell ice cream. (For those of you who don't know, Bluebell is only the BEST ice cream ever and its pretty much only sold in Texas.) There is a picture of me sitting in my PJs enjoying my treat. Life was just so much simpler back then.

I resent being an adult. I don't like it at all. When you're little, you can't wait to grow up. But I don't remember anyone ever telling me that I'd have to get my car registered, fill out standardized forms, pay bills EVERY month, have insurance, credit cards, a job, mortgages, taxes...there is a lot of paperwork that goes along with being an adult. Not to mention just taking care of yourself on a daily basis. Laundry, cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, taking out the trash, etc. These were all the things that my parents took care of. Now that I'm an adult, I find it all to be quite the inconvenience.

I miss the simplicity of my life as a child. You'd get milk and cookies, a nap in the afternoon, you can reside in your imagination and dream all day, someone makes all your meals and drives you around...its the life. If you get sick, your mom takes your temperature with the utmost concern and then brings you soup. You're upset or you hurt yourself, someone was always there to hold you and comfort you until you felt better. I still want someone to do that for me. If you're mad, you can throw a complete tantrum, in public none-the-less, and people may be annoyed, but no one says a thing. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to do that as an adult. You can do the craziest things as a kid and people just laugh, but if you did the same things as an adult, you'd probably be institutionalized.

Sometimes I still want to drink soda out of a swirly straw. I want to run through the sprinklers. I want to do cartwheels in the grass. I want to blow bubbles in my chocolate milk. I want to color. I want someone to cut the crust off my PB&J. I want to trust people without hesitation just because they seem nice. I want to play my favorite song and dance like no one is watching. I want to completely let go. I want to believe that anything is possible if you say pretty please. I want to laugh until my stomach hurts for no good reason. But as an adult, things just don't seem as funny anymore.

SALE ENDS TODAY!

Its your last chance to take advantage of these great savings! Don't miss out!

www.saranorris.etsy.com

365 Project: Day 50

I woke up this morning to the sounds of a car being towed in front of my house. 7:30 am is not a time of day I see very often. But I figured, hey, I'm up, I might as well get this show on the road. 

I stayed in my PJs, but I brushed my teeth, made a pot of coffee and a piece of toast with grape jelly, put Imogen Heap on my iTunes, and cracked open my journal. I snuggled back in bed, drank my coffee and wrote in my journal for a couple of hours. I don't know where the time went. Once I start journaling I tend to lose track of time. It was nice to stay in bed for a little while and enjoy my morning. I don't get to do that very often.

 I am the epitome of a workaholic and I don't give myself a lot of down time. I start working almost the second I wake up and I don't stop until my head hits the pillow at night. I love what I do. It doesn't feel like work to me. I just feel busy for 12-15 hours a day. Sometimes I'm frustrated and exhausted and burnt out and sometimes I complain, but I still get up the next morning, excited to start all over again. It makes me happy to know that I'm not only doing what I love, but I am building a business and a future for myself. How lucky can a girl get?


The 9-5 life was never for me. I would work my butt off for someone else 8 hours a day with nothing more to show for it than a bad mood and paycheck. Which, don't get me wrong, a consistent paycheck was great, but I was miserable. Money has never equalled happiness for me. I have been working so hard lately and I feel like all this time I'm putting in is finally starting to pay off. I am making progress. People are not only starting to recognize my images, but they are actually buying them. I feel so grateful and blessed. Little by little, my dream is coming true. 

Only 2 More Days!

My sale ends tomorrow!

The holidays are right around the corner so don't miss out on these great deals. My mini print sets will make perfect stocking stuffers for the art lover in your life.

365 Project: Day 49

Over the past couple of weeks I have somehow ended up in quite a few conversations about marriage. I'm 26. I'm at an age where many of my friends and a peers are not only married, but are having kids, buying houses and all those other things that people do as adults.

People ask me all the time when I plan to get married. I always answer "Never". I think it surprises some people. They all chuckle of course, not knowing if I'm really kidding or not. Quite honestly, married life is of no interest to me. I can't even commit to getting a pet or a houseplant.

I know people who are involved in all sorts of marriages. Some are happy, some are just beginning, but some are merely convenient, some are struggling, some have grown apart, some are together for the sake of the kids, some are loveless, and some are ending in divorce.

I used to assist for a wedding photographer. At every wedding we went to, while everyone was smiling and crying and wishing the couple well, I always secretly wondered if the marriage was going to last. That just tells you where my head is. There were a few that I'm sure were doomed from the get go.

Once, I saw a bride completely hyperventilate just before the ceremony. She calmed herself down and still said "I do" with a smile on her face half an hour later. The groom was none the wiser. I think having a panic attack might be a sign that you are making a HUGE mistake. Apparently she didn't think so.

When I think of marriage my mind always goes back to those traditional roles. The husband being the bread winner and the wife staying home cooking, cleaning and raising the kiddos. Basically my worst nightmare. My mom said when she was standing at the alter and heard the preacher say "...honor and obey..." it all of a sudden dawned on her what she was committing herself to. Luckily that all worked out and my parents, who were high school sweethearts, will be married 28 years this month.

Who knows, I'm still young, maybe one day I'll feel differently about the whole thing and decide that not only do I want to be married, but I want an entire litter of children. But as of right now, it isn't looking good.

365 Project: Day 48

I don't like the Winter. Its my least favorite season. During these cold months I am in a constant state of discomfort and discontent. First I'm too cold, so I put on more clothes, I turn up the heat. Then I'm too hot. So I have to put up my hair, take off the extra socks I put on. Then I'm chilled again. I am forever in search of that happy medium.

I don't like sweaters. You put them on because its freezing outside, but how long are you actually outside? Once you reach your destination and you're back inside, you're burning up and regret ever putting that sweater on the in first place. I wore a black turtle neck today and I regretted every second of it. Its like it was choking me. I couldn't breathe. I kept pulling on it and tugging at it to give myself a few seconds of relief, but it persisted to strangle me all day. During the Winter I am never content. Never comfortable.

There have been times in my life that felt like a perpetual Winter and like I was wearing a turtle neck every single day of it. I was in a constant state of dissatisfaction and frustration. I felt like I was working and working and working to obtain a certain kind of life that I wanted, but I was getting nowhere. I was pulling and tugging, and no matter what I did, I still felt strangled and restrained. I was doing everything except what I knew I needed to be doing. I wasn't taking pictures anymore. I wasn't writing. I wasn't myself. I was falling apart.

Abraham Maslow was a psychologist who is known for creating the "hierarchy of human needs". He even created a pyramid to demonstrate the levels of human need that lead to self-actualization. The dictionary defines self-actualization as the realization of one's talents and potentialities, especially considered as a drive or need present in everyone. I find his whole theory to be fascinating and particularly applicable to my life.

Abraham Maslow said, "A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What one can be, one must be."

Its hard for me to explain in words this nagging feeling, urge, compulsion that comes from inside of me, driving me to create. I think Maslow describes it so simply and so accurately "What one can be, one must be." By not fulfilling my potential and holding back all these things inside me, I had created my own personal Winter. I was miserable.

Maslow also said, "If you deliberately plan on being less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you'll be unhappy for the rest of your life."

If I weren't able to take another picture ever again, or write another word, I would become a shell of a person. I would be lost. That's how much it means to me and my well being. Photography and writing are not just things I do because I enjoy them. I create art because I have to. I need to. Its in me. Its my passion. Its my purpose. Its what I'm good at. Its the way I see the world. Frame by frame. Its who I am.

Just as the seasons change, I'm sure I will one day endure another personal Winter. But as long as I can keep creating, I know I will make it through and I will be "at peace" with myself again.

Don't Miss It

The sale in my Etsy shop ends Sunday!

Don't miss out on these great deals!

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Do it. You know you want to.

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365 Project: Day 47

I'm exhausted. I had to lay down and close my eyes for a second. I needed to rest, even if I had to take my picture while doing so. November was a tough month full of travel, events, and loss. Now that I'm finally home, I have spent every second parked in front of my computer working away. But I'm making progress and getting a little closer to catching up. As of right now I am up to date on my 365 Project. That's one thing I can mark off my to do list.

I think this is the first picture I have taken wearing my glasses. Yes, I wear glasses. Not every day. My eye sight really isn't that bad. Although I should probably wear them more often than I do. I only wear them when my eyes feel tired from staring at the computer all day, to read something far away, or to drive at night. But I like them. I feel like they make me look more studious.

The world definitely looks much more clear through them. Everything seems so crisp and well defined. Even colors seem brighter. My vision completely changes just by putting on my glasses. I wish they made glasses that could make you see other things more clearly. Like, choices, or plans, goals, paths, the next step, or people's intentions. I would wear those glasses every day for sure.

365 Project: Day 46

I collect vintage cameras. I have 14 in my collection right now. I'm picky about which ones I collect. I try to only collect cameras that still work. Right now, to my knowledge, I only have one camera that doesn't work.

I'm holding my Grandparents' Anscoflex II in the picture. It works. My Grandmother told me a long time ago that they had two old cameras that I could have, if she could ever find them. Well, while we were there going through my Grandfather's things, we found them.

The other camera she gave me is a Brownie Target Six-20. It works too. These are now the two most special cameras in my collection. Just knowing that many of my family pictures were taken with these cameras make them like treasures to me. I am so excited to have these. It means a lot that she would want to give them to me.

365 Project: Day 45

Today, November 30th, marks the official end of Hurricane Season. We've been very lucky this year. On September 13, 2008 Hurricane Ike hit the Gulf Coast of Texas. It was classified as a strong Category 2 hurricane with a Category 5 storm surge. In the United States over 100 people were killed and more than 300 people are still classified as missing.

I took this picture on Crystal Beach in July 2008, 3 months before Hurricane Ike.

Last year, I met one of the women who is now classified as missing. Every summer for the past several years my family has rented a beach house in Crystal Beach, TX for a week or so. This is my favorite place in the world. I look forward to going there every year. I love the warm water, laying on the beach, sitting for hours on the porch of our beach house, and most of all I love the people there.

In July 2008, just a couple of months before Hurricane Ike, my family was in Crystal Beach on vacation. Every day we would go down to the beach and set up our chairs for a day of relaxing in the sun. And every day there was a little old lady, who lived in a beach house a couple down from my aunt's beach house, who would do the same. We would watch her walk down to the beach carrying a lawn chair, a little cooler with a six pack of beer, and her fat little black dog waddled across the sand behind her. She would sit in the sun for hours. My dad talked to her one day and she pretty much told him her entire life history. She was in her 80s, she used to be a lifeguard and swore that she could still save somebody from the ocean if she had to. She had moved to the beach with her husband, who had since passed away, and she had decided to stay there alone with her little black dog.

She was a character. One of those people you meet in life that you don't forget. When I heard that Hurricane Ike would hit Crystal Beach I was worried. I knew that there probably wouldn't be much of the area left. The storm would destroy everything. I thought about her. I wondered if she would try to evacuate. I was glued to the TV the day Hurricane Ike hit. I couldn't stop watching. As the storm surge came on shore, drowning all my memories in a flood...I cried. Even as I write this, more than a year later, I still cry. I grew up building sand castles on those beaches. I spent many days swimming in the water that was about to swallow all the land and wipe out everything in its path. I felt helpless to save this place I love. I felt betrayed by the ocean that I had enjoyed so much. And I watched it all fall apart by live feed on the TV with commentary by Anderson Cooper.

Not long after Hurricane Ike, I got a call from my aunt. She had driven down to the beach to see the condition it was in. The destruction was so great that she didn't even recognize where she was. This is a woman who practically lived there every summer. All the stores and places that we used as landmarks to navigate the little town, where gone. Thankfully, she had sold her beach house not long before Hurricane Ike hit. When she finally found where she had built it, her house was the only one left standing on the entire street.

The beach house where the little old woman had lived with her little black dog was completely gone, and so was she. She is counted as one of the many missing. Although, they did find her car. It was up the road with an overnight bag packed in the back seat. She had tried to evacuate at the last minute, and like so many others, didn't make it out. It was just too late.

Crystal Beach is on a sliver of land called the Bolivar Peninsula. On one side is the Gulf of Mexico and on the other side is the Bay. There is only one road, HWY 87, that leads back to the main land of Texas, and because of the storm surge, it was completely washed out long before the storm even hit. The people who had waited to evacuate were trapped there. Some were rescued by boat and helicopter, but many had no choice but to try and ride out the storm. Most of them didn't make it, including that little old woman...and her little black dog.

These are the front doors of the Balinese Room. It was a historical landmark in Galveston, TX that sat on a pier leading out into the Gulf of Mexico. It was made famous to the world by the ZZ Top song "Balinese". It completely collapsed into the Gulf during Hurricane Ike and has not been rebuilt. I took this picture on vacation there in July 2008.

Last year, when I met that little old lady, I walked the shore of Crystal Beach, as I did every year, collecting shells and sea glass. There was never much sea glass to be found here and when I found a piece I was always so excited. The jar I am holding on the left is the sea glass that I collected in 2008. There are only 19 pieces of sea glass in this jar. Not even enough to fill it halfway.

We also vacationed at Crystal Beach this summer. Almost a year after Hurricane Ike. The majority of beach houses that were there the year before were completely gone. They had been washed away by the storm surge. It was like they had disappeared, leaving only the cement slabs to prove that they had existed. We stayed in one of the remaining beach houses.

Like all the years before, I walked the shores collecting shells and sea glass. This time it was different. I was finding handfuls of sea glass. And not only sea glass, but pieces of floor and bathroom tile, pieces of roofs, pieces of dishes. It was becoming more and more obvious to me that I wasn't just collecting sea glass, I was collecting the pieces of people's lives that were scattered all along the shore. It became very disturbing to me and as my time there went on, I actually stopped picking up the glass as I found it.

The jar on the right of the picture is full of the pieces of sea glass, tile, and dishes that I collected. There is a significant difference in the size of the jar required to hold it all. In this jar are 156 pieces of sea glass, 3 pieces of dishes, and 3 pieces of tile and that's just what I collected. My mother, aunt, and sister also collected jars full.

This is Murdochs Pier. It was a gift shop that sat on a pier in Galveston, TX. It was built in 1910. I took this picture on vacation there in July 2008. The pier was washed away by the storm surge from Hurricane Ike. Only the pilings were left sticking out of the water. They are in the process of rebuilding Murdochs.

As I watched Anderson Cooper struggle against the wind to report the progress of the storm, I thought about all those people who were trapped in their houses. I can't imagine how terrifying it must be to sit in your own home, waiting out the storm in the dark, listening to the howling wind rip the shingles off of your house. I can't imagine watching the floodwater rise all around you and knowing you were probably going to drown.

This picture became an iconic image of the destruction on the Bolivar Peninsula. This house is in Gilchrist, TX, which you can see marked on the map above. It was the only house left standing in an entire neighborhood, and it was left practically untouched by Hurricane Ike.

When I was vacationing at the beach this summer, enjoying the sun and picking up these pieces along the shore, I thought a lot about the tragedy and destruction that had happened right where I was standing only a year before. I stared at the water for a long time, thinking about what it must have been like to see it rising higher and higher, swallowing the beach and washing away everything in its path...and it broke my heart.

365 Project: Day 44

I'm feeling really exposed lately. Its sort of cold and lonely out here. I think most of you would be surprised to hear this, but I'm a really private person. There are very few people that I truly confide in and I don't let my feelings out very often. That's why I keep a journal. I'm much more comfortable keeping things to myself and writing them down where they are protected from the world.

Since I started this project I feel myself slowly opening up. But all of a sudden it has occurred to me that I have exposed myself. I am letting people into my life. Writing for this project has been more of a personal challenge than I ever imagined it could be. It wasn't even part of the original plan. But once I started taking pictures, I felt the need to explain them. And because I have chosen to do so on the internet, there are potentially millions of people who can see me and who can read about what I'm thinking and going through in my life. I find that incredibly invasive and honestly, very terrifying. I have this nagging urge to retreat and pull back into my shell. But the fact that I am afraid only proves to me that this is worth it and I have to keep going. If for nothing else, then for the sake of personal growth and pushing my own limits.

365 Project: Day 43

Lukenbach, TX...I FINALLY made it! On our last trip to Texas we tried so hard to find Lukenbach and never made it. We finally determined that we should have turned on this little farm road miles back and decided that we weren't turning around. But this time, we remembered to take that turn.

I was so excited to finally get there. Not that Lukenbach has any real significance to me aside from hearing about it in a song. I knew I had to take my picture here. That's when my family spotted the Longhorn that was tied to a fence. It was tied next to a sign that said Lukenbach, TX and it was wearing a bandana and a saddle. The man standing next to it was charging people to take their picture with it.

Despite the urging of my family, I flat out refused to have my picture taken with that poor cow. I don't eat beef. Period. I haven't eaten any beef or pork in almost 9 years. I do eat fish and chicken on occasion, but for the most part meat in general is a very small part of my diet.

I am a big supporter of animal rights. I don't agree with using animals for any sort of entertainment. Horse and Greyhound racing, those sad little pony's that you ride in a circle and take your picture with at the state fair, animals trained to perform in the circus, and this poor Longhorn tied to a fence all fall into the category of things that generally make me sick. Although I'm sure this Longhorn would much prefer having his picture taken with tourists to being slaughtered. But who's to say that isn't in his near future anyway? So I chose to take my picture next to this sign.

But, as the song goes, and as far as I could tell..."out in Lukenbach, TX ain't nobody feelin' no pain"...except for maybe that poor Longhorn.

365 Project: Day 42

While we were in Texas, my dad helped my Grandmother sort through my Grandfather's things. He spent days sorting through the garage. There where piles of tools, all sorts of old rusted things that didn't work anymore and who knows what else. That's also where my dad came across all the WWII supplies no one knew my Grandfather had.

Today was Black Friday and Mee Maw decided that she wanted a flat screen TV for the living room. The TV that I'm sitting on has been in their living room since my parents were dating in high school. Its still works, although the picture is slightly off and was a source of constant entertainment. We laughed about how everyone on the screen had short little legs and big stretched out heads. Plus, the picture was raised about 2 inches from the bottom of the screen so you could never the see the score of the football game. This was a problem. But they never got rid of it.

Today I helped my dad carry it out to the garage. I guess she's going to give it to Goodwill or something. Even though it wasn't perfect, it was sad to see it sitting in the garage. Unplugged, old, used up, and unwanted. The flat screen in her living room just doesn't look quite right. Its out of place in a house full of memories. Although I do understand the need for change and progress.

The picture on the screen was given to me by my Grandmother before we left to go back to New Mexico. It was found in a box of pictures that he had put away in the closet. She thought I should have it. Its a picture of Grandaddy holding me in their backyard. It was taken in 1983, the year I was born.

365 Project: Day 41

This is the living room in my Grandparents' house. I'm sitting on their couch and yes, I am wearing my grandfather's hat. This is the original hat that was issued to him with his military uniform. Its the hat that he is wearing in the picture hanging on the top right. It barely fit my big head and I think he looked much more distinguished in it than I do.

I have been admiring my Grandfather's WWII metals hanging in glass cases on this wall since I was a little girl. The arrangement of these pieces on the wall has changed several times through the years, but the pieces themselves have stayed pretty much the same...until now.

There is a new addition to this display. The folded American flag in the case at the top of the picture is new. That is the flag that was presented to my Grandmother in honor of Grandaddy. I didn't realize this until it was said at the funeral, but each fold in this flag has a meaning.

(Please note that this is the unofficial meaning and it does not appear in the Flag Code. It is the popular script that goes along with the flag ceremony, although its origin is unknown.)

"1. The first fold of our flag is a symbol of life.

2. The second fold is a symbol of our belief in the eternal life.

3. The third fold is made in honor and remembrance of the veteran departing our ranks who gave a portion of life for the defense of our country to attain a peace throughout the world.

4. The fourth fold represents our weaker nature, for as American citizens trusting in God, it is to Him we turn in times of peace as well as in times of war for His divine guidance.

5. The fifth fold is a tribute to our country, for in the words of Stephen Decatur, "Our country, in dealing with other countries, may she always be right; but it is still our country, right or wrong."

6. The sixth fold is for where our hearts lie. It is with our heart that we pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

7. The seventh fold is a tribute to our Armed Forces, for it is through the Armed Forces that we protect our country and our flag against all her enemies, whether they be found within or without the boundaries of our republic.

8. The eighth fold is a tribute to the one who entered in to the valley of the shadow of death, that we might see the light of day, and to honor mother, for whom it flies on Mother's Day.

9. The ninth fold is a tribute to womanhood; for it has been through their faith, love, loyalty and devotion that the character of the men and women who have made this country great have been molded.

10. The tenth fold is a tribute to father, for he, too, has given his sons and daughters for the defense of our country since they were first born.

11. The eleventh fold, in the eyes of a Hebrew citizen, represents the lower portion of the seal of King David and King Solomon, and glorifies, in their eyes, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

12. The twelfth fold, in the eyes of a Christian citizen, represents an emblem of eternity and glorifies, in their eyes, God the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost.

When the flag is completely folded, the stars are uppermost, reminding us of our national motto, "In God we Trust."

After the flag is completely folded and tucked in, it takes on the appearance of a cocked hat, ever reminding us of the soldiers who served under General George Washington and the sailors and marines who served under Captain John Paul Jones who were followed by their comrades and shipmates in the Armed Forces of the United States, preserving for us the rights, privileges, and freedoms we enjoy today."

-- www.ushistory.org

365 Project: Day 40

This is the balcony on the back of my cousin's house. You can't really tell from the picture, but its pretty high up and it overlooks a yard full of trees. She has a really beautiful home.

I'm not sure why, but I always seek out a porch. I like sitting outside and watching the world go by I guess. Its relaxing to me. I feel like I can think more clearly when I'm outside. Maybe because I spend a lot of time at home working at my computer. I'm hardly ever outside. That makes me sort of sad.

Cyber Monday Sale All Week!

Don't forget! My Cyber Monday Sale is going on in my Etsy shop ALL WEEK!

www.saranorris.etsy.com

Don't miss out on these great discounts and deals!

-- Get 30% off all Mini Print Sets and Big Print sets! --

-- Buy any two 8x8 or 8x12 Fine Art Prints and get one FREE! That's a $25 savings! --